Vikram Goyal's Weblog

We went to the Indian festival at Mt. Gravatt. showgrounds on Saturday night. For me, the night is all about how much Indian food I can gobble in one sitting. There were dosa stalls, Jalebi and 'Chaat' cooked Indian style, and various assorted curries. I had 4 or 5 different styles of Samosas itself, much to the embarrassment of Shellie. The food was generally very good and the prices were reasonable.

However, what amazed me, was the number of pirated Indian movies on sale! I didn't realize that they were pirated till I got them home and looked at the covers closely. These were being sold brazenly in several stalls and that too at an occasion grazed by Campbell Newman (the Mayor of Brisbane). I should have realized that they were pirated when I only paid $2.99 for a single copy, when a legitimate copy would have been at least $10. I just thought that they were on sale or that this was a special festival pricing.

Oh and there was dances and other cultural shenanigans on stage as well. I can't remember seeing anything over the food. :)

Posted by vikram at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What a night it turned out to be! Having seen Akmal Saleh on TV on 'Thank God You are Here' and 'Rove', we decided to catch his comedy routine live at the Paddo Tavern. We reached a little early, so had to cool heals in the bar, which wasn't too bad as the Broncos were thrashing the Bulldogs with an inspired play. The show finally started late by 45 minutes. Note to the Sit Down Comedy club: You need a better way of getting people in. The lines were too long!

The show started with the supporting act of Joel Ozborne. Funny guy indeed, but his act was interrupted several times by a lady sitting next to the stage who had a laugh like a hyena and kept laughing after everyone else had stopped. It was so embarrassingly obvious that I was convinced that she was art of the act. Joel kept up gamely, and even tried to use her for the laughs, which worked pretty well, thus reinforcing my view that she was part of the act. Nobody could have that kind of laugh and come to a comedy club!

Of course, she wasn't! When Akmal came one, and the lady kept her routine, Akmal tried to use her again for some more laughs. He even got her on the stage to umm.. show her tattoo. By this time, she was too drunk and couldn't contain herself. When she got down, she kept chatting to people around her, in spite of warnings from Akmal (comedic at first, serious later). Eventually, he had to get the owners of the club to get her to go out, which of course, she wasn't happy with (nor the people with her). The whole mood of the place got spoilt while they waited to get her out of the club, which she wasn't doing without kicking and screaming. To his credit, Akmal kept his composure as much as he could, but everyone could see that he had lost his rhythm. The woman's complaint was that the comedians (Joel first, and Akmal later) had used her when they wanted the laughs, but were now throwing her out when she got out of hand.

In spite of all that, the comedic routines were funny, and a good night was had by all (except of course the lady and her friends). Akmal and Joel are highly recommended!

Posted by vikram at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Steve Irwin died yesterday from a freak accident with a sting ray. He died doing what he did best, filming a documentary about the deadly creatures of the ocean.

I am sad at his death. He was the best known Aussie and had his own style. He made 'Crikey' a catchphrase and the khaki a fashinable item. He made fierce creatures seem nice and brought conservation into the living rooms of millions of people worldwide.

I am annoyed that I never got a chance to see him in real life. I live less than an hour away from his Australia Zoo, and never in my 5 years here did I make the effort to go see him. It was always on the to do list, but never got done. Should be a lesson in there somewhere... something about never taking things for granted.

Posted by vikram at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)